The swimmer arrested after bringing the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race to a dramatic halt will appear in court today. The annual contest on the River Thames was interrupted after the man was spotted in the vessels' path and the competition had to be restarted almost half an hour later.

Trenton Oldfield, aged 35, is due before Feltham Magistrates' Court charged with a public order offence. He says he was making a stand against elitism.

Oxford at the end of the boat race Credit: PA

The drama of the race continued after his arrest when the blade of an Oxford oar broke and the crew's bowman Alex Woods collapsed at the end and required hospital treatment.

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The Oxford University rower Alex Woods who collapsed after the Oxford Cambridge boat race has been discharged from hospital. Cambridge won the race which was dogged by controversy after a swimmer disrupted the event.

A 35 year old man has been charged with public order offences after he disrupted the Oxford Cambridge boat race. Trenton Oldfield narrowly avoided the blade of an Oxford oar as he swam into the path of the vessels between the two and three-mile marker. He has been released on bail.

The swimmer in the Thames who brought today's Boat Race to a temporary halt has been arrested on suspicion of a public order offence and is being held in custody at a west London police station while inquiries are carried out, Scotland Yard said.

It's understood that Oxford rower Alex Woods is conscious and responding to treatment. The Cambridge rowing team attributed their muted celebrations after their win to a desire not to upset Alex's family.

Umpire John Garrett has thanked veteran Olympic rower Sir Matthew Pinsent for spotting the swimming in the River Thames.

I'm grateful to Matthew for having spotted the swimmer. He basically said, 'There's something in the water, there's something in the water', he thought it was some debris and then we realised that it was actually a swimmer.

We weren't sure what was going to happen, whether he was going to get out of the way in time and then it was quite clear he was just waiting for the boats to come across him so I had to stop the race and restart.